Ministry trainee

We take 3-4 people each year for a combination of formal training (including participation in Cornhill training Course), mentoring and practical ministry experience. Start date: 03.09.23.

Responsibilities

The ministry trainee position is a training programme for those wanting to explore a calling into full time Christian ministry, or to serve in a local church to develop their gifts. Previous trainees have decided to join us for one or two years. As a trainee you will be working alongside a small and active staff team as well as the broader congregation to support church life. Ministry Experience There are opportunities at Grace Church to serve in various different areas including student ministry, children's ministry, youth ministry and international ministry. The exact shape of the role will depend on the ministry area, but there will be opportunities to give Bible talks, help lead a weekly Bible study, do one-to-one ministry with individuals and take on some responsibility for running a particular ministry area. The staff team will help you develop in these roles. Training In addition to the one day a week training that you would receive on the Cornhill Training Course (or two days per week if you are entering the 3rd year of Cornhill), we provide extensive opportunities for training and ministry development. For starters there is the teaching that you would share with the rest of the church family, namely: - Weekly expository sermons (you would have the opportunity every week to review the sermon with the rest of the ministry team, asking the preacher about decisions they had made in preparing etc). - Weekly bible study and prayer in Grace Groups. - Bitesize Theology (Spring Term only), our weekly 30 minute sessions working through Christian doctrines in some depth. - Two church weekends away per year, with 4 or 5 talks from really excellent speakers (previously we've had Christopher Ash, Nigel Styles, James Robson, Ben Thompson, Glen Scrivener). - Summer Fellowship, tracing a period of church history each year (e.g. the Church Fathers, the Reformation, the Puritans, the modern Missionary movement, key leaders of the 20th century). We'd also invite you to lead a Grace Group, which entails further training, namely: - S.L.O.B.S. (Study Leaders Own Bible Study) where you meet every 2-3 weeks with other leaders to explore, in depth, each of the passages that you will subsequently teach to your groups. Each of these studies is led by one of the pastors. - Leaders' training mornings – there are three per year, the first two giving an overview of the bible book we are about to study that term, the third being an opportunity to lead a short bible study in the pastoral epistles and to give and receive feedback on each other. - Termly constructive feedback on your bible-study-leading from one of the pastors. Then there is the training that we provide especially for the staff and ministry trainees, namely: - Weekly ministry meetings, where we review the week's activities including the Sunday sermon, discuss pastoral issues as they arise and pray for each member of the church by name (one Grace Group per week). - Weekly staff training, where on roughly alternate weeks we discuss a chapter of a (sometimes quite stretching) book that we are working through together - recent examples include Kevin DeYoung, Men and Women in the Church; John Frame, The Doctrine of God; Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation; Peter Leithart, A House for my Name; Michael Morales, Exodus: Old and New – or one of the team gives a short presentation on a biblical, theological, or pastoral topic that they have researched. - Short children's talks in the Sunday service, for which we would help you prepare and give you feedback. - Opportunities to give adult talks or sermons in various contexts, for which we would help you prepare and give you feedback. Previous ministry trainees have given evangelistic talks for women, talks in Christian Unions, Summer Fellowship talks on church history, sermons in partner churches (and very occasionally at Grace Church Greenwich). - A monthly one-to-one meeting with our women's worker, or with one of the pastors, to discuss what you are learning, what you are finding difficult, etc. Administrative and practical responsibilities Alongside direct Bible ministry there would also be administrative and practical roles which are essential to the functioning of the church, including for example, preparing service sheets and slides, supporting our digital ministry and helping to organise our student weekend away.

Required skills

The ministry trainee will be: · A prayerful, committed Christian of evangelical conviction who agrees with the ReNew Statement of faith (https://www.renewconference.org.uk/statementoffaith) · Someone who can demonstrate love and concern for the spiritual growth and practical needs of people within their care · Self-motivated, organised, able to use initiative and to work well within a team · Someone ideally, with some experience of serving or volunteering in a ministry area

Other

Grace Church Greenwich is a thriving Anglican evangelical church, planted in 2015 from St Peter's Barge and St Helen's Bishopsgate, and now meeting on Sundays and midweek in three locations, Greenwich, Canada Water and Mottingham. Our vision is to be a church that welcomes sceptics, enquirers and believers. We seek to train and equip our members for Gospel ministry, in the local community and further afield. Financial Support As this is a volunteer role and therefore not paid we want to share with you some of the experience that previous trainees have had in raising the funds needed to support them during their time with us. We try to support fundraising efforts in the following ways: · We provide a rough budget based on recent trainee experience (see below). · We enclose a template letter to help with approaching potential sponsors (see below). · To help your sponsors to give tax efficiently you will need to set up a Stewardship Individual Account (https://www.stewardship.org.uk/receive-funds/christian-workers). Our current trainees can help with any questions you have on the process. · We will pay training fees for attending the Cornhill Training Course and associated costs (e.g. books required for study). · We will cover the costs of attendance at church weekends away (usually two per year). · We will cover the cost of food provided at church events.